E-Consultation on youth and transit migration

NOTE: The Week 2 e-consultation is now CLOSED. It is no longer possible to add new comments. For those of you who have not had time to read all of the comments from the week 2 e-consultation, please click here to download the summary of the discussion.

Thank you and congratulations to all those who have contributed to the discussions! We are so pleased with the interesting comments that have been shared. Let’s continue to keep this platform as conversational as we can by commenting and sharing your thoughts!

Welcome to the 2nd segment of our e-discussion on youth migration! This week we will be discussing the issues you face when transiting through countries and your experiences in destination countries ( For the questions for today, Wednesday, 30 January 2013, please scroll down this page).For those of you who are joining us for the first time, welcome to the second segment of a series of e-discussions on youth migration and development! You still have an opportunity to share your comments on today and last week Tuesday's questions.

Your ideas and comments on the questions below will contribute directly to the forthcoming UN World Youth Report 2013. Usually 2-3 questions relating to the issue at hand will be posted each day -between Tues, 29 January to Thursday, 7 February 2013 - for the Week 2 consultation. The e-discussion on transit migration is moderated by Michael Boampong and our guest moderators, Mariama Ahmeda Mansaray-Richardson and Christopher Hoffman. Our moderators will be online to keep the discussion active. Please note that in responding to the questions below we encourage you to share your personal experiences, especially if you are a young migrant, return migrant or a child/relative of a migrant.

Meet the Week 2 Moderators:

Michael Boampong, Lead moderator

Michael Boampong has been actively engaged in youth development and migration issues since 2005. He has worked with a range of civil society organizations, youth networks and international agencies such as UNDP and UNICEF in the design and implementation of policy and field oriented initiatives that promote rights based approaches to migration, poverty reduction, social inclusion and justice.

Ahmeda Mansaray-Richardson, Guest moderator

Ahmeda Mansaray-Richardson, a migrant herself, is a qualitative researcher and a child protection and youth participation consultant. She is passionate about the empowerment process in youth and focuses her career researching, facilitating and participating in this process in Ghana and Canada. Her professional background includes documenting the stories of survivors of childhood sexual abuse and conducting assessments on youth focused health programs. A paladin for community driven health initiatives, she trains youth in skills to design, implement and evaluate their own health projects. She has a BSc from McGill University and a Masters in Public Health from Lakehead University. She currently runs a global youth empowerment and participation organization called V.O.I.C.E.S. In her spare-time she loves to create culinary magic and to fly single engine planes.

Christopher Hoffman, Guest moderator

Christopher Hoffman, is an Emergency and Post Crisis Specialist, IOM Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok . Christopher has concentrated his work with IOM on dealing directly with those affected by conflict and natural disasters, and in his current position provides support to 27 IOM Missions, spread out over 56 countries and territories. Chris’ past work has been split between East Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Chris holds a Master’s Degree in Project Management MPM and Bachelors in both International Business and International Relations. Chris has coordinated air and ground logistics activities in over 12 countries over the last 10 years. Chris was a youth migrant from the age of 13 and understands the difficulties associated with migration as a young person.

Background:

The e-consultations is coordinated by the UN Focal Point on Youth and is opened to all young people (15-35 years) interested in migration and development issues.

Please introduce yourself when you post a comment by indicating your Name (first name & initial of last name if preferred), Age, Sex, Country and Youth Organisation (if any).

We welcome comments in Spanish and French and have installed a Google translate for translation purposes (see above).

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Transit migration is conceived as the temporary stay in one or more countries, with the objective of reaching a further destination. Transiting can also provide a lot of opportunities for growth and learning about yourself and new environments. As the phenomenon is better understood and gains political prominence, transit migration as part of a ‘step by step’ migration flow is only now being tackled together in the context with broader migrants’ mobility patterns. There is a lack of insight into geographical mobility systems and logics and into the complex interrelations between different stages of the migratory trajectories. We need an integrated, comprehensive approach to understand all the migratory routes, from the home country, through the various stages, including transit migrations. The knowledge of the geographical and longitudinal structure of mobility is, in fact, preliminary to the understanding of migration processes and driving forces (Castagnone,2011).

Key questions for, Wednesday 30 January 2013 (NEW)

Day

Question

Tuesday, 29 January 2013

Was your transit country/ city/town/village by choice or by circumstance? If by choice why and if by circumstance could you tell us how you managed to be there?

What was the most useful support you received when you first arrived in your transit country/ city/town/village and from whom?

Wednesday 30 January 2013

How long have you stayed in your transit country and why? Has it become the home you thought your destination country might be? Please give us details on the journey for you in coming to this.

How beneficial has your transit country been to you? For example, did you obtain any job with income to support your living expenses or preparation for migration to your preferred destination country? What kind of challenges do/did you face in your transit country? Please elaborate on possible language/communication challenges, gender and age aspects where possible.

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The UN Focal Point on Youth aims to build awareness of the global situation of young people, as well as promote their rights and aspirations, working toward greater participation of young people in decision-making as a means for achieving peace and development.